Recent studies of consumer digital and online imaging preferences have indicated a strong (over 30%) desire for on-line (e.g., at home via the internet) editing, creation, and ordering of custom made image based products and retail store pick up of the resulting image based products. With the advent of retail store based networked imaging kiosks and systems the production of many of these types of custom imaging products can be performed at the retail location. The user currently can bring a memory device containing their personal images to the retail store or order prints online which are then printed at the store but these methods can prove cumbersome, requiring multiple trips to the retail location, waiting in lines, and a loss of privacy (when working on personal images in a public location).
Most retail imaging devices have access to professionally produced creative content, such as holiday and seasonal graphics, templates, decorative borders and the like, which is routinely refreshed to reflect the current holiday season, special events, and/or licensed content such as characters from a popular movie. In addition, with modular retail imaging devices, software and hardware components are upgraded periodically and typically include new capabilities, features, and output options such as enhanced red-eye removal, the addition of DVD writing capability, poster printing via a large format inkjet printer, etc. With on-line print ordering the user can edit and manipulate individual images using PC-based software such as EasyShare, save the file on their hard drive, then upload the image to an online photofinishing service provider, and then select a retail destination for the file to be printed. The user must learn and negotiate several of the software packages, provide for payment over the internet, and the user's options are limited to the capabilities provided via the on-line service provider. In addition the image product options provided by the retail image device may not be available via the on-line “print at store” systems currently available. Whereas producing simple “snapshot” prints from personal image files is in decline, the market for more advanced imaging products is growing.
Prior art systems and methods allow the user to designate a retail site that will print their image files and forward the images files either directly or through an online photofinishing service provider. These systems do not provide the user with access to the full range of features and capabilities provided by the retail imaging device. Also, prior art systems allow users to access their online image collections if the online image repository has made previous arrangements with the retailer. In these systems the user is never directly accessing the retail imaging device or its inherent capabilities and features. With systems that allow the user to download images from an online image repository the user has to perform editing and selection functions in the retail establishment (directly at the walk-up kiosk) and must transfer their images files in advance to an online image repository affiliated with the retailer. This system requires the user spend time in the store waiting for an available imaging device and then locate, access, and download the desired image files from a designated online image repository before the process of making a customized image product can even begin.
Prior art techniques as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,275,044 B2 SYSTEM, METHOD AND SOFTWARE PRODUCT FOR ORDERING IMAGE PRODUCTS OVER A COMMUNICATION NETWORK FROM A PLURALITY OF DIFFERENT PROVIDERS HAVING VARIOUS BUSINESS RELATIONSHIPS, attempt to overcome the limitations described above but require complex pre-arranged business and technical collaborations in order for a user to access printing capabilities at a retail store and present the user with a complex array of service options and locations. This system also does not provide direct access to the features and capabilities of individual retail image devices and systems that the user may already be familiar with.
A client/server based architecture model, allowing devices to share files and resources, is one of the most prevalent and common approaches to network computing today. Many mature client-server technologies are defined in the prior art and are noteworthy due to their ability to ensure security, ‘friendliness’ of the user interface, and ease of use. Each instance of a client is able to send data requests to one or more connected servers. The server(s) accept, process, and return the processed data or other relevant information to the client. A client is often deployed as a web-browser application, and might interact with a server using the extensible markup language (XML) over the network via the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP). Typically, client-server architecture enables the roles and responsibilities of a computing system to be distributed among several independent computers that are known to each other only through a network. It is possible to replace, repair, upgrade, or even relocate a server while its clients remain unaware and unaffected by such a change. All the data is stored on the servers, which generally have far greater security controls than most clients. Servers can better control access and resources, to guarantee that only those clients with the appropriate permissions may access and change data. Since data storage is centralized, updates to those data are easy to administer.